Contents

Blurb

Ash, Misty, and Tracey buy tickets to the Pokémon Showboat, a wonderful carnival where Pokémon can speak and perform plays! A young actress from the performance has been having problems with her Raichu ever since it shocked her early in their relationship. Ash and Pikachu may be able to help. Of course, they'll have to deal with Team Rocket first, as they attempt to steal all the talking Pokémon.

Plot

Ash, Misty, and Tracey continue exploring the Orange Archipelago when they stumble upon a floating theater where all the actors, singers, and dancers are Pokémon. The three of them decide they would like to see the show and enter the boat. All the Pokémon in the show can talk which consists of a Hitmonchan fighting a Machoke in a boxing ring for a Clefable, with an Abra as the referee. As the show comes to an end, Ash says that he guesses there are more Pokémon than just Meowth who can talk. At the same time Togepi ends up wandering off and walks behind the stage. Ash, Misty, and Tracey see this and run after Togepi. When they finally catch up to Togepi, they find out that the Pokémon in the performance weren't really talking. They were only moving their mouths as three people behind a glass wall voiced them. As they watch from behind a young actress named Kay appears and yells at them to be quiet. As the performance ends with the Pokémon dancing on stage, a man comes out and asks Kay to have her Raichu come out to the stage and dance with the other Pokémon. Raichu then appears from out behind a box and when Kay asks Raichu to perform it just sits there sadly and refuses.

The voice actors of the show and Ash's crew are then seen sailing on the floating theater to the next island. Ash thanks one of the voice actors named Roger for taking them along and asks if there is anything they could do for him in return for the ride. He then says that he would like Ash to teach Kay some pointers on how to become closer with her Raichu. As the boat keeps on sailing, Team Rocket is seen in their Magikarp Submarine plotting on how to steal the performing Pokémon.

Back on the floating theater Ash is trying to teach Kay how to get along with her Pokémon. Ash asks Kay to show him a performance with her and Raichu, which she does, but Raichu continues to do nothing. Ash then tries to give Raichu some words of encouragement, but ends up getting shocked in the process.

Later on Kay is standing on the deck of the boat looking at the water when Ash tries to talk to her about Raichu. Kay then explains that the reason why Raichu won't perform is her fault. She tells the story of how Raichu shocked her, out of happiness and excitement, when they first met, which caused Kay to throw Raichu off her. Because of that day, Raichu is now too nervous to perform with Kay anymore because it can sense Kay's fears of being shocked again. Just then Team Rocket fires two torpedoes at the boat which sends Raichu flying into Kay's arms. Raichu starts to shock Kay and Kay reassures Raichu that it's okay and that she isn't afraid of being shocked anymore.

Team Rocket then appears aboard the boat. Ash tries to stop them, but Roger insists to do what they say because they don't want the boat to be destroyed since it is their livelihood. Everyone on the boat is then seen tied up on the lower deck by Team Rocket. Team Rocket then leaves them to go and steal the performing Pokémon. Meowth told the performing Pokémon that he is their boss; he notices Raichu crying and threatens it not to do so, only to get shocked instead. Hitmonchan shows a frightening face towards Meowth and James, who express their wishes to get along. Upon noticing Roger's eye movements, Hitmonchan pretended to agree with James, but suddenly punches him back.

The voice actors end up getting up with the ropes still around them and cause a distraction by voicing over the Pokémon Team Rocket is trying to steal, which they fall for as the Pokémon really being able to talk. Hitmonchan uses Fire Punch and burns James' face, which angers James further and he sends out Victreebel, only for him to get devoured by it. Jessie takes over the command, sends out Weezing and orders it to use Smokescreen; which chokes everyone on the ship, except for Ash and friends who break free from the ropes. James calls back Weezing and the smoke disperses; Ash and Tracey appears to stop Team Rocket with Pikachu and Marill. Kay then teams up with her Raichu and uses Mega Punch to blast Team Rocket off the boat.

As the boat stops at another island and prepares for the next show Ash is seen talking to Oak on the telephone about the floating theater. Just then Kay runs out of the boat and tells Ash that Roger can't perform in the show because he's lost his voice from Team Rocket's SmokeScreen earlier. Kay volunteers to fill in for Roger in the performance. Ash and his Pikachu then end up volunteering to help out in the show while Tracey's and Misty's Pokémon can both also be seen performing in the show, as well.

The part of the show where Hitmonchan and Machoke were fighting each other is a reference to the Rocky movies.

When Ash helps with the performance at the end of the episode, he remarks, "It's kinda hard to match the lip flaps, isn't it?" This is a reference to "lip-flap," which is a problem faced by production companies such as 4Kids when dubbing anime.

When Victreebel bites down to James's head, Jessie calls James's Weezing out instead of him and tells it to use SmokeScreen.